Yesterday when I was running, I thought about the gray skies I was running under. And yesterday, I wrote about making sure that I don't end up bringing what might be gray in one part of my life to other parts of my life.
Today, I continue with that theme a bit. That is a bit more of a direct tie between two days of writing than I usually have. However, I see it as logical since I ran another 4 miles (just backwards on the same course as yesterday) under clouds.
Specifically, today I am thinking about being on the road to better for a lot of different things at once. When I began the 40 days to better there were 40 days between a day on Labor Day weekend (when I had not run for four days) and the Baltimore Running Festival. So, I was mostly thinking of 40 days to better running. But I also wanted to think about 40 days to being better at a whole bunch of things.
Each day when I write, I have written about running and marriage and work and friendship and parenting and a whole bunch of other things that maybe get mentioned once or twice.
But can I really hope to make myself better at everything? The answer to that may be no.
Of course, there are some general principles that I can follow. More follow through. More reliability. More listening. More being done on time. All good. All help all aspects of my life.
But maybe, thinking like the economist that I am, I have to make tradeoffs. I hope not. Thinking about having to make tradeoffs in what I become better at is not a fun idea.
But if I don't, I may have to ask, "What does getting better in one area cost in terms of changes in another area?"
If I focus on improving at work will I lose in family life?
If I focus on improving on family life, will I lose on fitness?
If I focus on improving on fitness, will my Sunday school teaching go down hill?
I could pose tradeoffs between any combination of two things that I want to improve.
The key is to find the right combination. Recognizing that more is better for each one. My boss likes to say "More, better, faster." Can I do all three of those or will choosing any one or two meant that I can't do the other or others? Trying to improve each one. Trying to avoid having to give up too much of one to get another.
I can think of what it means to be a better person. Does that have to mean being better at everything? In an ideal world, yes. However, that may simply not be possible.
So, I have to carefully (and sometimes prayerfully or at least with spiritualism in mind) consider what the tradeoffs mean.
Today, I continue with that theme a bit. That is a bit more of a direct tie between two days of writing than I usually have. However, I see it as logical since I ran another 4 miles (just backwards on the same course as yesterday) under clouds.
Specifically, today I am thinking about being on the road to better for a lot of different things at once. When I began the 40 days to better there were 40 days between a day on Labor Day weekend (when I had not run for four days) and the Baltimore Running Festival. So, I was mostly thinking of 40 days to better running. But I also wanted to think about 40 days to being better at a whole bunch of things.
Each day when I write, I have written about running and marriage and work and friendship and parenting and a whole bunch of other things that maybe get mentioned once or twice.
But can I really hope to make myself better at everything? The answer to that may be no.
Of course, there are some general principles that I can follow. More follow through. More reliability. More listening. More being done on time. All good. All help all aspects of my life.
But maybe, thinking like the economist that I am, I have to make tradeoffs. I hope not. Thinking about having to make tradeoffs in what I become better at is not a fun idea.
But if I don't, I may have to ask, "What does getting better in one area cost in terms of changes in another area?"
If I focus on improving at work will I lose in family life?
If I focus on improving on family life, will I lose on fitness?
If I focus on improving on fitness, will my Sunday school teaching go down hill?
I could pose tradeoffs between any combination of two things that I want to improve.
The key is to find the right combination. Recognizing that more is better for each one. My boss likes to say "More, better, faster." Can I do all three of those or will choosing any one or two meant that I can't do the other or others? Trying to improve each one. Trying to avoid having to give up too much of one to get another.
I can think of what it means to be a better person. Does that have to mean being better at everything? In an ideal world, yes. However, that may simply not be possible.
So, I have to carefully (and sometimes prayerfully or at least with spiritualism in mind) consider what the tradeoffs mean.
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